Hi. I am a well controlled T1 but I know what it feels like to be unstable! Also, I am a specialist housing consultant with a PhD in housing tenure options for vulnerable people and I can tell you, quite emphatically, that the council has a DUTY to house you! They MUST, and there is a wealth of case law on this, find you suitable alternative accommodation which caters for the health needs of you all. Further, for a number of year now, if they only have bed and breakfast type services, they CANNOT put you in there for more than a few weeks before offering you permanent housing. Even further, you can insist of social services doing an assessment of need under the auspices of the NHS and Community Care Act, to discover what needs your children have, after that they MUST pay to have these needs met. I don't often post on here and even less often do what I'm going to do now which is to give you my email address and ask you to contact me and I can give you some confidential help! Send me a PM.My LL wants to sell the house I have been living in with two autistic children for four years. He has issued a S21. I am generaly quite tired, as my sons have a lot of needs. My older son has a specialist social worker, lots of issues (particularly with education but also with his health), my younger son is just nine.
I am 50, have had type 1 diabetes for 46 years. In my 20's it was very unstable, mostly self inflicted, and I spent a long time in hospital. During three pregnancies, my diabetes again was unstable, in spite of my best efforts (hourly blood sugars etc) to control it.
After a stressful four years (iffy Land Lord) he wants to sell the place, has issued a S21 notice and will get a possession order, then bailiffs warrant. I am a carer on benefits, don't have a deposit, need to stay in the area because of the services supplied to my older son and schools. I have had a recent decline in income because my older son has left college (they weren't meeting his needs). I am trying to deal with this.
I have applied to the council for social housing, but as social housing is hard to get, they've put a lot of 'gatekeeping' obstacles in my way. I've dealt with what I can.
But my diabetes has gone unstable in a way I've never seen before. I had to put my Lantus up from 22 u a day to 38.., because of high bloodsugars, was ok for a week, then hypo's started. So I started reducing it again. I am now at a lower than normal dose but my poor son's had to call out an ambulance for me on Saturday and tonight because of hypo's. These occurred against all odds, I should have had hardly any insulin in my body tonight.., I'd missed my Lantus dose because of the hypo but the ambulance team had to give me glucose by IV in the end, because my blood sugar just wouldn't stay up. I'd had two slices of toast before sleeping, and no short acting insulin. I can't understand logically how this hypo could have happened. But it did. Again.
I am quite stressed because of the Housing situation but can access no help to reduce the stress. Shelter tell me I can't be rebanded (presently have D banding which is no priority) because our mental/physical problems are not directly due to something within the house. Stress because of the process doesn't count when asking to be rebanded. So I'm stuck here, waiting to be evicted, have arthritis and back problems so packing up is slow and painful, worrying about my sons, about my diabetes control, money (not in debt or rent arrears but wondering how I am going to cover all the court and removal storage costs coming up) and if I am going to die. I know death from hypos is rare but as these hypos shouldn't even be happening, it is something that worries me rather. My body doesn't deal well with insulin lack so I go into ketoacidosis rather quickly. When my diabetes is unstable I generaly revert to a sliding scale of insulin, imperfect but it helps. Nothing is working this time.
I am posting on here, uselessly because I know its a complicated situation covering lots of areas. I am stunned by how my diabetes is going. Its not the first time its been unstable but its difficult to cope. I do so many blood sugars, am very careful about my eating, exercise (refused to take the dogs for a walk tonight), take lots of blood sugars but the hypos are still happening. Tonight's hypo just shouldn't have happened.., but I also have to be careful because my blood sugars can go up as quickly as they come down. I'm at a loss.
I was referred for an urgent diabetologist appt on Monday but still waiting (know its not long given how the NHS is, but obviously I had another bad hypo tonight).
I suspect this is going to kill me. Do I ask for my sons to be taken away? I should be looking after them, not stressing them out because I am unresponsive again. My poor nine year old had to deal with all of this tonight (the 19 year old was out). None of my control methods are working, I can't remove the housing stress.., so I don't know what to do. Sorry to sound so dramatic.., but I don't know what to do. I could run constant higher blood sugars but I hate how that makes me feel. I know this is my first post on here.., normally i just deal with whatever's happening., but this is actually scaring me. I went to the Diabetes nurse on Monday, she didn't give me any advice whatsoever, just referred me to a diabetologist.
Edited to remove email addresss.
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